


Made of Steel

by Nanimok



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Humour, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 10:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10717596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanimok/pseuds/Nanimok
Summary: “Concept,” Kagami announces. “I’m wearing the Hokage hat. You’re my number one advisor. We’re watching through the tower window as a bunch of kids are screeching and playing. Adults are bartering. All five major villages are allied. Shinobi fatalities is at its lowest, and our village is thriving.”





	Made of Steel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Red_Hot_Holly_Berries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Hot_Holly_Berries/gifts).



> Guess who corrupted my fluff-filled heart lol (hint: it’s [redhothollyberries](http://redhothollyberries.tumblr.com)). Also inspired and beta-ed by said angst senpai. Please redirect any tears towards her blog.

Time has always been a funny concept to Tobirama. It’s constant in its presence and it’s always disproportionate to the moment. It sludges like a tar during his grimmest moments, and cascades like fine sand in an hourglass during his happiest. Nothing escapes the effects of time. Sometimes, Tobirama looks at his walking companion and forgets that Kagami only used to reach his shoulder.

Now, it makes him smile to admit that he has to tilt his neck the tiniest bit upwards to meet Kagami’s eyes. He never really grew out of his chubby cheeks, but his jaw has broadened out. It’s obvious that Madara has a hand in Kagami’s growth. It shows in his skills, his values, his stubbornness. His childish optimism, his sharp humour, and his elastic intelligence – that’s all Kagami.

His insistence at kicking out Tobirama out of his office, and walking him home when it gets past ten – that’s all Kagami too.

“Concept,” Kagami announces. “I’m wearing the Hokage hat. You’re my number one advisor. We’re watching through the tower window as a bunch of kids are screeching and playing. Adults are bartering. All five major villages are allied. Shinobi fatalities is at its lowest, and our village is thriving.”

Tobirama scoffs. “Impossible.”

That curls a pout out of Kagami. “That I’m Hokage?”

“That all five major villages are allied.” Tobirama is careful not to let his lips twitch into a smile. “Our industry relies on conflict. Specifically, conflicting interests between the villages. If there is no threat, then there’s no reason for people to pay for protection. That’s a big chunk of our revenue.”

“Well, aren’t you just a peppy pile of pickled plums,” Kagami mutters.

Tobirama tilts his head for his next question. “But are they not your favourites?”

Kagami’s pout turns slanted. “That’s beside the point. The point is that you’re a party pooper.”

“Having fun making those popping noises?”

“Yes, I am.”

Tobirama barks out a laugh. It surprises him, how often he finds himself laughing whenever Kagami’s around. Kagami stands up straighter. Tobirama swears that he’s the type to absorb his laughter and convert it to fuel his endless source of energy. Especially if the laughter is coming from Tobirama.

They reach Tobirama’s door, and Tobirama is surprised to feel dread curling inside of him. There’s nothing waiting for him ever since Hashirama and Tōka moved out. Nothing but his dirty laundry, his pile of books, and his selection of tea. That used to be enough for him, but now–

Now, the outside looks more attractive to him. There’s Kagami and his insightful remarks. There’s Kagami and his consequently stupid remarks. There’s Kagami and his dimpled smile, and his creasing eyes when he draws Tobirama into a conversation, and his furrowed eyebrows when he’s telling Tobirama off for not looking after himself.

Outside, there’s Kagami.

Kagami who used to be his student. Kagami who works as an assistant in his lab. Kagami who is fourteen years younger than him, and for that reason, Tobirama takes a deep breath and steps back.

Evidently, they’ve been staring at each other for too long. Kagami jolts slightly when Tobirama steps back.

Tobirama clears his throat. “Thank you,” he says. “For walking me home. I appreciate it–“

“Would it be so bad?” Kagami asks softly.

“Excuse me?”

“Would it be so bad to let us be more than what we are right now?”

His heart jumps up till it lumps in his throat. Tobirama, with the lauded steel nerves and rock-solid demeanour, is speechless.

Kagami shoves his hands in his pocket. The fringe of his hair curls around his eyes, as if to highlight the nervousness shaded under the brown pupils. Despite his nervousness, Kagami soldiers on. It’s a habit that’s been there since he was a child.

“Not that I’m not happy with where we are now,” Kagami elaborates, “but would it be so bad to even let yourself consider us being something more?”

“I’m your boss, Kagami. And before that, I was your teacher,” Tobirama says, a bit shaken. “It’s not appropriate.”

“My contract changes project to project. I can easily transfer under Madara for a career change.” Then Kagami gives him an amused look. “Don’t tell me out of all the times you decide to worry about propriety, you decide worry about it now?

“I’m too old for you,” Tobirama protests with a wavering voice. “Kagami, it’s better that you’re with someone your own age–”

“My mother was betrothed to my father at fourteen. They married when she was sixteen. He was twenty eight. I’m twenty-one. Age only means something when the Clan loses control of a person’s agency. You’ve always treated me like an equal, and I’m–” Kagami steps up to take one of Tobirama’s hand in his. His thumb caresses  Tobirama’s knuckles. It draws a line of fire over his skin. “I’m starting to think that I can be one for you too.”

Tobirama wants to tug his hand out of Kagami’s hold. Something in him refuses to. His hand doesn’t move. “You don’t want someone like me. Someone who’s got baggage the size of the Naka River.”

“Everybody’s got baggage. Doesn’t make you any less beautiful to me.”

“Sage, Kagami. You can’t just say stuff like that.” He sounds weak. Shame spikes in him. Senju Tobirama is anything but weak, and he should be everything but weak.

Kagami laughs. His eyes creases and he laughs while Tobirama stands there, offended and shaken to his core.

“Maybe Madara’s right about ‘kids these days’ being so impatient,” Kagami reflects. “But, like you said, our job relies on physical conflict, I don’t want to spend my life being ashamed of my feelings – even when everyone around tells me to. And if you think you’re just a broken tool, Tobirama, you’re wrong. You’re wonderful, you’re skilled–”

Tobirama makes a face full of distaste. “Please refrain from talking in metaphors.”

His grimace is so adorable that Kagami can’t help but grin. “Broken kunais can be melted, and recast, you know. And the metallurgical properties of their steel means that there’s no degradation in performance afterwards. Sure, you’re aged. But you’re also indispensable.”

Tobirama can’t dispute that. Not when it’s presented so passionately and earnestly.

“I’m also happy with the way things are. The last thing I want to do is to pressure you, so I guess I should apologise right now,” Kagami lets his hands go and gives him a sheepish smile. “If we continue on as we are for years onwards, then I’d be happy too.”

“The chances of this ending up well are slim to none,” Tobirama considers carefully. “We might not be compatible at all.”

“There’s also a slim chance that we’ll work out. We can’t ignore that.”

“Let me think this through,” says Tobirama. “I need to consider this matter for a couple of days, and come back to you with my arguments. We have a courier mission in a couple of days, so I’ll meet you there in a couple of days, alright?”

“Since you’re actually considering the idea instead of flat out rejecting me, hell yeah,” Kagami answers. He refrains from making a fist pump in the air - Tobirama only knows that because it’s what he usually does after a victory.

Tobirama’s tired but he wants to laugh. He settles for a lopsided smile.

When Kagami excuses himself, Tobirama watches his back. He watches his back turn from the gates, and he thinks to himself, _Would it really be so bad?_

 

* * *

 

Tobirama is right.

It doesn’t end well.

Nothing in his life ever really goes to plan. He should have known from the war, the creation of Konoha, and befriending the Uchiha. Caring for the Uchiha. Being on the brink of falling in love with an Uchiha.

Somehow their courier mission becomes an ambush. It becomes a blur of bodies, it becomes a desperate beating of his heart as he fights off shinobi that definitely should not have known where they would be.

A cry of pain. A cry from a voice that’s intrinsic to his being and his insides revolt with panic. A figure from the edge of his vision collapses, and his vision blurs before anger blinks it away.

It’s like sound has been dampened, and despair squeezes his chest. Then anger twists his focus until it becomes sharp and cold. Resolve fills his coils.

Movement becomes slower as Tobirama cuts the shinobi down like trees.

 

* * *

 

Time is an intangible concept. He wishes it were tangible, so he could choke it between his fingers and make it stop, stop, _stop_ –

There’s a body in his arms, breathing shallow breaths. His fingers are clutching cold ones, trying to pour warmth into the still digits. They’re both covered with blood. Majority of it are from the bodies around them, but Tobirama only cares about the one that’s dampening the cloth he’s pressing to Kagami’s chest.  

Tobirama barely recognises the sobbing to be his own. His eyes are blurred and his cheeks are wet, but he’s not sure if it’s from tears or from blood.

“I wanna see…the future with you.” Kagami struggles between quiet breaths. “Let me see the future with you…”

Tobirama hushes him because he will, because backup is coming their way. Because Kagami is going to survive. Because they’ve been on more dire missions with smaller chances of survival and they’ve survived.

There is a future where Tobirama grows old and Kagami is there right beside him. The details surrounding them are arbitrary. Negotiable. Kagami smiling beside him –

That’s integral.

But nothing ever goes to plan. Time is constant in its presence, and inevitably, time moves on.

Kagami stops breathing and Tobirama feels his future crumble from underneath him.

 

* * *

* * *

 

“If the degradation in performance of re-melted steel is little to negligible, then it’d be wasteful not to reuse it.”

Kagami pauses from where he’s adjusting the straps of his pack. “I thought you hated talking in metaphors?”

Tobirama rolls his eyes. “Don’t be, and I quote, ‘a party pooper.’ Do you want to hear my thoughts or not? ”

Kagami makes a zipping motion of his lips. Tobirama chuckles at his exuberance.

“After this mission, you’ll transfer to Madara. It’s no secret that he’ll be happy to work with you again. Then I’ll find you. We’ll meet as equals, alright?”

Kagami stands up, buzzing with energy. He miscalculates in his charge forward and almost headbutts Tobirama in the face.

Tobirama settles his hands on Kagami’s shoulders to stabilise him.

Kagami flushes. “Oops.”

How did he ever resist this adorable boy?

The dawning sun lighting up the path from the gates highlights his features. There’s too much in Kagami’s creasing eyes. Too much adoration. Too much joy.

Tobirama makes a compromise to himself. He leans in slowly, giving Kagami time to lean away. Kagami doesn’t.

Tobirama angles his head to press a kiss on the corner of Kagami’s mouth, savouring the softness and how his nerves are racing under a thin layer of skin. That’s Kagami for you, a ball of energy bundled up a thin layer of skin and curly hair.

Then he presses his faceplate to his forehead. Opens his eyes to meet brown ones, and a blinding smile and a tenderness that sucks Tobirama in and holds him hostage.

If time were tangible, he would make it stop. He would clutch to this moment. So he can memorise every detail of how Kagami is looking at him.

“Concept,” Kagami announces once again, almost bouncing from giddiness. “Our mission is a success. I transfer to the Police Department and work my way up. We meet as equals. We date as equals.” He takes Tobirama’s hands, and squeezes. His smile grows wider, but there’s a tender crease to his dimples.

Possibilities makes his eyes grow million times brighter. Tobirama is excited to explore every one of them.

“I’m wearing the Hokage hat,” Kagami continues on. “We watch children scream and laugh from the office windows. I stand by your side as we shape the future. I treasure every second you let me stay there, and I’m the happiest man alive.”

**Author's Note:**

> [ #oops I killed Kagami ](http://redhothollyberries.tumblr.com/post/159466611634/years-before-kakashi-there-was-another-sharingan)
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated. Also, guess which Hamilton song I was listening to as I wrote this.


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